Column: Where to fight the ‘ABS-CBN 70’? In Quezon City

Published in Rappler on February 10, 2022.

Art: Alejandro Edoria

On May 5, 2020, the country’s largest TV network went off the air; the following July 10, the House of Representatives voted 70-11, at the committee level, to reject a new legislative franchise for ABS-CBN. President Rodrigo Duterte had imposed a death sentence on the network, and the 70 congressmen served as his willing executioners.

The shutdown and the franchise rejection were the worst attacks on press freedom since Ferdinand Marcos imposed martial rule in 1972, and it registered on the public. A Social Weather Stations survey taken in November 2020 found that 65% of voting-age Filipinos thought it was dangerous to write or publish anything critical of the Duterte administration, up sharply from 51% in July.

But the issue cannot be reduced to press freedom, as important as that is. In the election program I host, On the Campaign Trail, editor Jonathan de Santos, the chair of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, emphasized that more than 4,000 workers were laid off as a result of the shutdown and congressional vote. UP professor Jean Encinas Franco also noted the collateral damage in the area where the network is headquartered, in terms of business losses for restaurants and other establishments. Any campaign to hold the 70 congressmen to account, Franco said, should highlight those who lost their jobs.

Column: ABS-CBN is a campaign issue

Late post, in part because the second dose of the vaccine knocked me out for a good part of the working week last week. Published in all Inquirer platforms on July 13, 2021.

The rejection a year ago of the franchise renewal application of the ABS-CBN network by the House of Representatives committee on legislative franchises was a political decision; it should have political consequences.

It was political in the barest, most basic sense: It was a display of power, made against the evidence provided by the very government agencies invited by the committee, against clear public opinion in favor of the network. At the end of the lengthy process, involving 12 hearings altogether, one of the three leaders of the anti-ABS-CBN inquisition, Rep. Rodante Marcoleta, summed up the entire proceeding with an unforgettable phrase. Notwithstanding the favorable testimony of the representatives of the various government agencies called to Congress, and the testimony of the network’s own representatives, Marcoleta said, “it is the will of Congress that must be accorded respect.”

Column: Life after Facebook for Duterte?

Today’s column (No. 616) is the ninth to be censored by the separate editorial team in Inquirer.net. But it was published by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, carried by Inquirer Mobile, and can be accessed on INQ Plus (from which I take these column snapshots). Two main points: “Disallowing” Facebook in the Philippines (not even sure if that would be legally or technically feasible) would be catastrophic for the Duterte social media infrastructure. And the accounts linked to the security services were removed because of fraudulent conduct (fake accounts, hidden identities).

It was a curious way of phrasing a threat. On Sept. 28, about a week after Facebook removed a network of accounts linked to the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police, President Duterte addressed the social media platform directly. “Is there life after Facebook? I don’t know. But we need to talk.”

I understand the question to be a public weighing of options. While the President did say that he was content to “allow” Facebook to operate in the country (more curious phrasing, but for a different reason), and he did suggest that operations required a quid pro quo (“hoping that you could help us also”), I see the President as still ambivalent about any form of retaliation.

But—listen to this statement: “Now, if the government cannot espouse or advocate something which is for the good of the people, then what is your purpose here in my country?” Isn’t this a real threat? It is an implied one, but very real. We should certainly not underestimate the political will of the traditional politician who ordered the ABS-CBN network shut down.

A station ID for the ages

https://twitter.com/ABSCBNNews/status/1300402961831456770?s=20

“The pattern is clear: The free press is under attack”

In the first seven months of the year, the Consortium on Democracy and Disinformation—a national network of journalists, academics, and civil society representatives, supported by four universities—issued three joint statements to defend ABS-CBN from the predatory tactics of the Duterte administration. (The Consortium, to which I belong, has also issued statements in defense of Maria Ressa and Rappler, and of Ellen Tordesillas and several other journalists.)

I thought putting all the ABS-CBN statements together in one place can give all of us a clearer picture of the pattern of predation. Once Duterte’s political allies realized early this year that the President was dead serious about his often-repeated threats to shut down ABS-CBN, they went on the attack.

“The President is isolated in his mosquito net”

Two readings from Duterte’s triumphalist speech in Jolo, Sulu, claiming he destroyed the Lopezes without need for martial law; three principles the public must know to understand journalism; four lessons about the occupational hazard of journalism, Duterte’s practice of “sampol” (making an example), why ABS-CBN was shut down at this particular time, and how the public can serve as a countervailing force. Interview with Rappler’s Pia Ranada for her Seat of Power podcast. Released on July 15, 2020.

Report was a “rationalization,” denial of ABS-CBN franchise was “legislative murder”

Interview with Christian Esguerra for his Matters of Fact program on the ABS-CBN News Channel, on the rejection of a new franchise for ABS-CBN. July 14, 2020.

Column: ‘It is what it is’

Column No. 604. Published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer and on INQ Plus, but not on Inquirer.net, today, July 14, 2020.

The technical working group (TWG) convened by the committee on legislative franchises concluded its 40-page report on the ABS-CBN network’s application for a new franchise with a section on freedom of the press.

“In resolving the franchise application of ABS-CBN, this Committee assures the House of Representatives that this matter is in no way related to the freedom of the press. It is what it is—a denial of a privilege granted by the State because the applicant was seen as undeserving of the grant of a legislative franchise.”

And then again, like a lady protesting too much: “By no means can this franchise application be related to press freedom. If it were so, then all applicants for legislative franchises covering mass media could simply claim such freedom and force the hand of this Committee each time. Such a scenario is totally inconsistent with the nature of legislative franchises as a mere privilege and never a matter of right.”

This language is more colorless than that used by Rep. Rodante Marcoleta, one of the chief critics of the network’s application, but stay still long enough and you can still smell in it the sulphur of Marcoleta’s earlier, reckless words. The day before the committee voted against the renewal on the TWG’s non-unanimous recommendation, Marcoleta said the statements from the different officials representing various government agencies whom the committee itself invited to testify in the hearings did not carry much weight.

“It is the will of Congress that should be accorded due respect simply because it is Congress that has the sole and ultimate authority to grant or deny application of franchises,” Marcoleta said.

To quote the TWG: “It is what it is.”

“Condemn Cayetano Congress for damaging democracy, spreading disinformation”

JOINT STATEMENT
OF THE CONSORTIUM ON DEMOCRACY AND DISINFORMATION*
A national network of journalists, academics, and civil society representatives

The Consortium on Democracy and Disinformation denounces the decision of the Committee on Legislative Franchises to reject a new franchise for the ABS-CBN network. Despite the manifest unfairness of the hearings conducted, and the miraculously efficient 40-page report the Technical Working Group released 24 hours or so after the last hearing, the Cayetano Congress could not and cannot stop the truth from coming out: Other government agencies proved that the main issues thrown at ABS-CBN were baseless.

For the Cayetano Congress to minimize these agencies’ findings and insist that these issues remain valid is to spread disinformation.

The Department of Justice confirmed that network chair emeritus Gabby Lopez is a natural-born Filipino. The Securities and Exchange Commission testified that both ABS-CBN and GMA networks use Philippine Depositary Receipts and that they are not “evidence of ownership.” The National Telecommunications Commission acknowledged that ABS-CBN did not violate its franchise with its multiple TVPlus programs. The Bureau of Internal Revenue proved that the network had no tax delinquencies. The Department of Labor and Employment said in its opinion ABS-CBN was compliant with labor standards (although, to be certain, other labor issues remain). To insist, as Rep. Rodante Marcoleta has done and the TWG report smoothly rationalizes, that these statements from government agencies do not matter and only “the will of Congress” does is to abuse a power granted by the Constitution, in order to spread disinformation.

The worst disinformation is to assert that denying the country’s largest news network a new franchise is not a press freedom issue. The TWG report itself devotes four pages to matters of editorial content: alleged “biased reporting, inappropriate program content and political meddling.” To insist, as the report does in its conclusion, that this is “in no way related to the freedom of the press” is to spread disinformation.

Insisting on the so-called will of Congress at the expense of the truth is an abuse of power that damages essential traditions and institutions: predictability of rules, accountability of government officials, evidence-based policy-making. The Cayetano Congress used this will to prevent a news organization, however imperfect, from speaking truth to power. That’s the truth.

Column: What’s really at stake in ABS-CBN issue

Published on February 25, 2020.

Last Friday, at the height of the biggest protest against the shutdown of the ABS-CBN network, Mocha Uson, the government-salaried propagandist and failed party-list candidate, tweeted: “Naku libo libo ang dumagsa sa ABSCBN babagsak na ang pamahalaang Duterte,” followed by a parade of sarcastic emojis.

A quick translation: “Oh, wow. Thousands have thronged ABS-CBN. The Duterte administration is about to fall.”

This joke purported to make light of the street action outside ABS-CBN headquarters, but in fact it was an act of bravado, revealing through its end-game scenario the biggest fear of the Duterte administration’s die-hard supporters: That it will lose its popularity, and fall from power.

Column: P-Noy’s Kabayan problem, and ours too

Published on July 31, 2012.

President Aquino is wrong to think that the fundamental nature of news has changed. But he is entirely in the right when he calls journalists to account according to journalism’s own standards. Unless, of course, journalists think those standards are only meant to be paid lip service.

“Negativity” in the news—the word the President used in his remarks at BusinessWorld’s 25th anniversary rites last Friday—has become the shorthand defining what an ABS-CBN story online would later call his “scolding spree” against the media, even though the real controversy erupted only after the President directly criticized ABS-CBN anchor Noli de Castro at the 25th anniversary party of the iconic “TV Patrol” newscast, later that same Friday.

Column: Black propaganda: Chiz & Jejomar version

Published on April 13, 2010.

It was a real privilege to serve as a resource person at a roundtable conference organized by the National Academy of Science and Technology last week. I hope to set aside some space sometime soon to discuss the provocative insights of eminent economist Emmanuel de Dios, the other guest speaker; for now, allow me to acknowledge the stimulating company of National Scientists Gelia Castillo, Mercedes Concepcion and Teodulo Topacio Jr., as well as (ceteris paribus!) of Deans De Dios and Raul Fabella of the UP School of Economics.

Column: Bias in surveys, etc.

A manufactured crisis; the conventions of opinion writing; coping mechanisms for survey laggards. Published on January 12, 2010.

Yesterday’s editorial piqued my curiosity. “Not least, the history of the Court itself belies [Rep. Matias] Defensor’s contention that the office of Chief Justice had never been vacant, not even for a day.” Good thing the Supreme Court maintains one of the better government websites.

On sc.judiciary.gov.ph, we can find a list of the country’s chief justices, going all the way back to Cayetano Arellano. There are a few mistakes on the list that even a non-lawyer can spot and which can easily be remedied, such as Manuel Moran’s date of retirement (May 29, 1951, not 1966) or the order of Roberto Concepcion’s successors (Querube Makalintal came before Fred Ruiz Castro). But in it too, Defensor can find the perfect rebuttal to his arguments.

Column: The curse of singing journalists, atbp.

Today’s column. Considering my many friends in the ABS-CBN newsroom, not exactly easy to write. But as one of them pledged, All is fair indeed in love and war. Published on January 5, 2010.

I CAN’T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD, RUNS ONE typical comment in one of the many available YouTube versions. Watching ABS-CBN’s “Ako ang Simula” music video, we can easily see why. It is catchy, powerful, unforgettable. It is also wrong.

It blurs, in the name of good citizenship, the already heavily smudged line between journalism and entertainment.